ASUS ROG GL551 Series GL551JM-DH71 4th Generation 15.6-Inch Gaming Laptop (Intel Core i7, 4710HQ 2.50 GHz, 16 GB Memory, 1 TB HDD, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M 2 GB Windows 8.1 64-Bit) Black/Red

I couldn't be any happier with this laptop. Having used both Asus desktops and laptops for many years now, I knew what I would get is quality. My expectations were very high, and yet it still managed to surprise me.Build quality is top notch. Sleek and thin for a gaming laptop. Aside from the trackpad, nothing about the exterior feels cheap. The keyboard is great, keystrokes are buttery smooth. The speakers are surprisingly loud for and clear for stock laptop speakers. The display, oh my... the display. I've only ever used TN monitors so the leap to IPS was quite a big one. Factory color settings are abysmal out of the box so it will need calibrated. Once properly calibrated using the Windows Display Color Calibration tool, colors and images pop to life. Another aspect of the display i'm extremely happy with is the choice of matte over a glossy type. I can sit in front of a window, or a bright lamp can be just over my shoulder and there are almost no reflections. The glossy display types reflect surrounding light like a mirror and lead to quick eye tension headaches for me. So far, i've had not even the slightest bit of eye discomfort while viewing this display. Next we have the trackpad... the reviews weren't lying. It's bad. It feels unresponsive, laggy and cheap. Coming from an Asus G60JX which had a phenomenal trackpad, this was definitely a noticeable downgrade-- time to break out the mouse. The laptop uses the integrated graphics for a majority of activities and will only switch over to the GTX 960M for intense rendering. This means for basic use, the temps stay very cool. I own a heating pad from my last gaming laptop, but i've not had to use it so far with the GL551. While gaming, it did get warm but not HOT like my G60JX, which one could substitute as a fireplace while gaming. Cold boot time is 14.56 seconds from off to desktop. Photoshop opens in just 4 seconds which is really nice. The HDD is also split into 2 partitions, each 465 GB.I bought this for astrophotography (planetary imaging) and some mild gaming; it's handled everything i've thrown at it so far. I really couldn't ask for anything more. The only thing I intend to change is the HDD which will be swapped out for either a 512 GB or 1 TB SSD. I plan to convert the 1 TB HDD to a storage drive and i'll be set. Now if it can just stand the test of time like my previous Asus laptop (6 years old), then I will be extremely pleased.Update (6/22/15): Not even a month after writing this review and my screen is defective. Green/pink flashing colors, bleeding colors, extreme ghosting, strobing horizontal bars, etc. I disabled the graphics chip and ran GPU only, problem persisted. I disabled the GPU and ran chip only, problem persisted. Uninstalled drivers and installed the newest versions. It wasn't until I rebooted the laptop and saw the green/pink bars on the boot screen that I realized it was a screen issue and not software. It's boxed up and en route to Amazon for a refund. Really bummed, it was everything I wanted in a laptop. However, if I pay $1,200 then it needs to last longer than 3.5 weeks.Update #2 (7/03/15): I liked this laptop so much, I decided to try one more time. Amazon was stellar about the refund process, which is why I continue to buy from them even in the event their prices are slightly higher. So, two things to note that I noticed right away: 1) The first laptop arrived with the manufacturers tape broken. Someone cut it, and placed packing tape over the Asus tape to reseal it. This should have been my first red flag, but I assumed it was an employee checking to make sure the correct machine was inside. Unlike the first laptop, my replacement arrived with never-opened, black Asus tape. 2) The first laptop had abysmal color settings out of the box. It took about an hour and multiple calibration attempts to get it where it needed to be. Unlike the first, the replacement has flawless color calibration and perfect gamma with no needed adjustment. At this point, i'm convinced the first laptop was an RMA'd/return that, for whatever reason, was put back on the shelf and sold as factory new. I have adjusted my rating, and will give a third update in one month.

After a couple days of owning this machine my impression is WOW, WOW, WOW!!!I'm not a gamer so I can't speak for that crowd. I'm a professional day trader and will use this as my mobile trading station since the market is often very slow during the summer and I don't want to be pinned down at home.So here's what I can say.The PROS's:1. Package arrived on time and everything worked perfectly out of the box.2. Minimal bloatware that was easily removed.3. The quality of construction was much better than expected. Very study feeling.4. LOVE the keyboard. Keys easy to identify and it just feels good.5. The IPS monitor is great. The viewing angle is extremely wide.6. For what I do this thing runs ice cold. That's with running 4 trading platforms, charting software(killed my old i3 HP laptop), chatrooms, AIM, and Chrome with about 6-7 tabs open. WIth all that going on my old i3 would start to get very hot and slow. This beast doesn't even break a sweat.7. FAST! My desktop is a i7 4790K with 32gb ram and Samsung EVO PRO ssd. I cant really tell much difference. My charting software took 3 minutes to load on the old i3, about 15 sec on this thing. About the same as my desktop. Boot times are really quick too. Think seconds.8. The ISP screen allows such hi resolution that I can fit quite a bit more on the same sized screen. I wasn't expecting that so that was a nice positive surprise. Fwiw, I'm 54 and my eyes are not that good. I'm shocked I can read the small font but it's just so very clear/tight and vivid that its actually no problem.9.It's quiet. So far more quiet than my old laptop was even just web browsing.10. The track pad isn't bad at all. I'm not sure if I got lucky or if everyone else is just used to something better than I've ever had, but this track pad beats the crap out of the HP Probook I have.11. The wifi card seems awesome. My router is in the basement of our house(no windows). I can sit in my driveway and still get a strong signal. The HP can't do that.12. It's light. Very light. Probably weighs no more than my HP but the weight is better distributed. I can easily walk around carrying this with 1 hand with the display open. I thought it would be a little heavier.Cons: (being really nit picky here)1. It's a finger print/dust magnet. Doesn't matter to me as this is a work machine not a trophy.2. I think it's storing temp files to the ssd drive thus taking up space.My desktop does that too and I just delete them once in a while, but for some reason I can't figure out how to do that on this machine yet. Both run WIn 8.1 too so that's odd. I probably figure that out in time, or maybe someone here will tell me how:)3. The sound isn't very good. Really lacks bass. Doesn't matter to me but may for some.4 I think the colors are off. Reds sort of look like neon. I can probably adjust that just haven't taken the time. Any suggestions?Anyway, for what i bought this laptop for, I think I'm going to be very happy. I'll likely never experience the GTX 960M card, but I love the overall speed and feel of this computer.

Short....1h only...unpacking and use.Pros:Great designFine materialsThe keyboard's nice (similar to MBP)Fast in appsFast in loadingNice display bright and wideThe viewing angle is greatFonts are visible and crispComes with an Asus multimedia mouseCons:Poor sound (I expected more)Flimsy touchpad (sounds like it's cracked when you press r/l click)The red light is useless (at night is annoying). If you are not all over it (let's say 60 degree angle) and you are trying to relax in your couch (about 45 degrees angle) you won;t see the marking on keys.Tons of fingerprints ....everywhereI was browsing around, to write this review with nothing else opened in the background and I felt my left palm started to warm up a bit (strange....?). When I moved my hand closer to air flow it was indeed warm.DO NOT WEAR WATCHES OR BRACELETS, EVEN RINGS WHEN USE THIS MACHINE!!! The aluminium alloy case is painted black and so easy to scratch...I didn;t test this laptop in games or stressful apps. Only movies for short time and normal apps.I am far from being an technician. Just a humble end user who spent many hours in front of pcs.NOTE:I had the G75 for more than an year. Quality before quantity...I can't say the same for GL55I tried to let everyone know what I saw in 1h of use of GL55.More o come...I hope...